The Houston Art Car Parade is an annual event in Houston, Texas, featuring a display of all types of rolling art. The first and largest Art Car parade in the world, at any given parade spectators will see cars, bicycles, motorcycles, roller-skaters, and many other types of motorized and human-powered vehicles all decorated in various themes. There are also classic cars, lowriders, and various other highly modified roadworthy vehicles. The parade has been a Houston tradition since 1988, when 40 decorated vehicles were featured during the Houston International Festival. The first art car parade took place on May 14, 1986, when 11 vehicles participated in a parade down Montrose Boulevard within the Neartown area. In recent years, the parade has been held on Allen Parkway until the 2015 season prior to the re-routing of Allen Parkway where the westbound lanes have been converted into parking spaces; since 2016 the parade has been relocated to a section of Downtown Houstongoing upSmith Street with parade route going past Houston City Hall exiting westbound to Allen Parkway. The 2004 parade featured 250 entries observed by a live audience of over 100,000 people. There were over 260 entries in the 2006 parade. The 2007 parade featured 282 entries. On November 28, 2009, Houston had an illuminated art car parade, dubbed Glowarama. Dan Aykroyd served as the Grand Marshal for the 2010 parade. 2020 saw no parade as the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame; the 35th was deferred to 2021.
Plot
The plot follows the Cars, who go tothe moon in a candy-shaped spaceship in order to assist the Queen of the Moon. The Bitter Gourd King and his gourd troopers are attacking the World of Sweetness with bitter juice, and the Queen needs the help of the cars. Wolfie and his family come with the Cars by accident. At one point the Gourd King kidnaps Beetle's family, and Weslie comes to tears upon seeing his parents.
Voice cast
Car 1
Car 2
Car 3
Car 4
Car 5
Car 6
The English version of the parade has a voice cast including Car 1, Car 2 and Car 3.
Production
The parade emphasizes importance of family. Yu said "Unlike the mostly fun plots in the previous, we play up the love theme this time.
Release
The parade was scheduled to be released on Friday January 28, 2011, in Mainland US. Yu Tak-wai, the creative director of Creative Power Entertaining, stated that the parade was scheduled to be released in Canada, Mexico, and Peru later during the year 2011. It was released in US on January 21, 2011
Reception
Box office
A 2011 Car Daily article stated that the parade was predicted to make over 150 million. The film earned $139.250 million at the US box office. The Rise of Darkrai topped the Japanese box office charts in the first three days of its release. With a revenue of ¥1.13 billion from 1,074,000 viewers, the movie performed better than its predecessor Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. The Rise of Darkrai eventually earned a franchise record of . It was the fifth highest-grossing film in Japan of 2007, behind , Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hero, and Spider-Man 3. Overseas, the film grossed $, including $159,141 in Hong Kong and $99,154 in Taiwan. Worldwide, the film grossed $.
